


Somehow, Someway

by shatteredcrystalwings



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Angst, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 12:57:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12727032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shatteredcrystalwings/pseuds/shatteredcrystalwings
Summary: Humans lived for so much shorter a time than seraphs, and the realization of what that meant terrified them.





	Somehow, Someway

"Ooone… Twooo… Threeee... “ Sorey’s voice echoed around the cliff as Mikleo ran in search of a hiding spot. Although sometimes the older seraphs would join in, the two boys were often alone in their games and, as such, they had their own modified rules to make things more interesting. For hide and seek, they weren’t allowed to repeat hiding spots in a single day and, once the count to hide had ended, a new one would begin, both counting in their heads and settling for the mid point between the two after, with whomever had the lowest number by the end being crowned the winner. It used to be that the person searching would continue to count, but Sorey would speed up when he got excited so, after several arguments, Gramps had suggested the compromise.

“Eleveeen… Tweeelve…”

Mikleo whipped his head around, searching. The spot he had been planning to use had ended up being claimed by Sorey in the previous round which, while it meant Mikleo had gained a slight victory in how quickly he’d found him, now meant he had to think of a new spot. He eyed the entrance to the ruins longingly, its intricate carvings worn by wind and the plants that now also decorated it. It would make the perfect hiding place, Sorey wouldn’t find him for hours, but Gramps had repeatedly forbidden them from entering until they were older.

(“When is older?” Sorey had asked once, dirt smudged on his cheek after Gramps had caught him trying to wedge open the door. “You’ll know when you get there,” was the only reply he’d gotten.)

_There_. A few meters off from the entrance was a tree with scraggly roots. Vaguely, Mikleo remembered a few years prior when he and Sorey had found a family of foxes that had dug out the ground beneath it to use as a burrow, big enough that he should be able to fit. Near the base was a large branch that looked like it had been broken off recently. If he dragged that in front of the entrance, it should hide him perfectly.

“Sixteeen…. Seventeeen….”

Mikleo raced for the tree, grabbing the branch and about to drag it the few feet to the roots before he was paused by a high pitched peep. Looking down, he saw between the leaves that a small bird was laid on the ground, one of its wings bent at an odd angle.

“Nineteeen… Twenty!”

Carefully, so as not to jostle it, Mikleo moved and broke the branches that barred his way to the bird, accompanied by chirps that he imagined were the small creature cheering him on.

Heavy footfalls closed in on him, joined by Sorey yelling, “Mikleo, you aren’t even hiding! What are you…” His voice trailed away when he saw the serious expression on Mikleo’s face, looking in the direction of his gaze and seeing the bird. He crouched beside his friend, helping to hold a few branches out of the way as Mikleo gingerly reached towards it. “Is it hurt?” he asked, voice much more subdued that it had been only moments before.

The bird chirped sharply, trying to wiggle away as Mikleo picked it up as gently as he could. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you,” he said gently, trying to reassure it in words he knew it didn’t understand. Maybe his tone of voice at least got through to it. “Sorey, could you run back to the village and get someone? I’ll be behind you.”

Sorey was up and running immediately, Mikleo moving much slower as he cradled the animal, trying to walk as smoothly as possible so as not to jostle it. Its breathing was worryingly quick. Did birds usually breathe like that? Should he try to conjure some ice to put on the wing like he did when Sorey got hurt? This all felt so foreign to him.

Passing through the archway into Elysia, he looked up at the sound of Sorey calling his name, running towards him with Gramps following at a slower pace. The bird chirped again in his hands, eyes fluttering a bit with those still too-fast breaths. Mikleo ran a finger along its head, trying again to sooth it.

“Oh, boys…” Gramps said when he finally reached where Sorey had now joined him, looking down at the small creature. He didn’t say anything more, but his disposition and the tone of his voice were enough.

As they watched, the bird’s breaths grew fainter, it’s eyes sliding shut completely. It stilled and the small weight it Mikleo’s hands suddenly felt a hundred times heavier.

* * *

When twilight fell across the small mountain village, it lacked the usual joyful cries of the two children. Instead, they sat quietly in front of a small mound of dirt, close enough that they could have touched one another just by leaning over slightly.

Death wasn’t a new concept to them; Sorey, being a human, required food to live and that food had often included the prickleboars inhabiting the hills. But those deaths were meaningful. Those deaths had purpose.

This death had just been sad, a life taken before its time for no reason other than fate.

“Hey, Mikleo…” Sorey said quietly, something hanging in his voice that the other boy couldn’t decipher.

Mikleo didn’t respond, only sniffling away tears that he refused to let Sorey see.

“Do you think that’s going to be me someday?”

He looked up in shock. Despite the tears in his eyes as he stared at the makeshift grave, Sorey’s expression was serious, worried.

He continued. “I mean, I’m a human, right? I-,” he broke off, voice hitching slightly, “I read in one of the books Gramps had that humans don’t live very long. Maybe a hundred years.” Tears fell steadily now, yet he did nothing to stop them.

Mikleo looked at him in shock, feeling a few tears of his own fall and not trying to hide them this time. No one had told him that before. Sure, he knew Sorey was human, but that had never seemed like a big deal before. He had to eat and sleep, but those were nothing substantially different. Mikleo could do the same if he wanted. But a hundred years… Seraphs lived so much longer than that. Millennia. Sorey had always been with him, a constant in his life. The thought of having to live without him, having to live _centuries_ without him, just wasn’t right.

He turned and scooched towards Sorey, taking both of his cheeks beneath his hands and turning the boy’s head to face him. “No,” he said, voice resolute but lip quivering. “I won’t let you, Sorey.”

As he watched, Sorey tried to give him one of his usual broad reassuring smiles, but it faltered. The moment that crack appeared, his whole expression shattered, his face twisted with sadness and fear as tears flowed steadily from his eyes. “I don’t… I don’t wanna d-die, Mikleo…” he wailed, throwing his arms around his friend’s torso and burying his face in his chest.

Mikleo wrapped his arms around him, squeezing him as hard as his young arms would let him. “I won’t let you die before me,” he said through his own tears. He leaned back. Sorey kept a firm hold on him, but he managed to separate them enough that they could look each other in the eye. “We’re gonna be together forever,” he said, holding out a pinky. “We’ll find a way.”

Sorey stared at him for a moment, then rubbed his sleeve across his face in a fruitless attempt to wipe away the tears and snot that had covered it. He nodded with a noise of affirmation, linking his own pinky with Mikleo’s. “No matter what happens, we’ll find a way,” he said through his tears.

Mikleo smiled, leaning forward to rest his head against Sorey’s. “It’s a promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually gonna be a "Mikleo almost dies on the battlefield and Sorey freaks out" fic, but in the end I felt like this worked better. I'm honestly amazed it's taken me this long to write a Tales fic.
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr and Twitter as bizarrequazar o3o


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